Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to update Public Health England guidance in response to the new covid-19 variant; and when that guidance will be available to schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 19th January 2021

All evidence suggests that the new variant of concern is more transmissible than previous cases and is now the dominant strain across the country.

However, the data suggests that this effect is broadly uniform across age groups. The new variant does not appear disproportionately more transmissible among children than adults, nor is there any evidence that the new variant is more transmissible in schools than elsewhere in society.

Previous Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advice has been clear that the measures that reduced transmission of the older variant all continue to apply for the new variant, including those in schools. Those measures are now all the more important.

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